Voices

Josh

Young Men Program, Springfield

On the first day Josh walked into Roca, 2 years ago, he had no idea his life was about to change. Josh came to Roca after being released from jail where he had been locked up for two months and as a result lost his job and his apartment. He was struggling to get by and did not want to go back to the life he’d lived before. When he first came to Roca he thought he had it all figured out. He would go in and get a job and that would be it. This turned out to be just the beginning of what he would do with Roca and with his life.

First, Josh was assigned his youth worker, Pat. For a full month, Pat reached out to Josh every day and Josh would not respond, he didn’t trust him. After this month, Josh started to answer his calls and to talk to him. They began to grow their relationship. Now, Josh feels he is close with Pat, that they “have a good bond. We talk about things, we argue, sometimes he really pisses me off, but we get through it. We go out to eat, go to the movies. If I need anything, he’ll pick me up. He’s just always there”.

In addition to working with his Youth Worker, Josh has also participated in the Transitional Employment and other programming at Roca. He is working on his GED, has taken CBT skills classes and has moved up replica to the Advanced Transitional Employment (ATE) crew at Roca, painting and renovating apartments. He is happy working with his hands. In the future, Josh would like to find a career working in construction or in landscaping. He wants a steady job, a house, possibly to attend college and one day his own business.

“My Youth Worker and I have a good bond. We talk about things, we argue, sometimes he really pisses me off, but we get through it. We go out to eat, go to the movies. If I need anything, he'll pick me up. He's just always there”